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Wednesday, April 29, 2015

If a guest visiting you is a weight watcher, one who is too
strict about calories and diet, what recipes you choose? I was in the same
dilemma a week before, I had to make a complete meal for someone who prefers
only healthy meals. I put in lot of thoughts and took a quick look at my blog’s
recipes. Below is what I decided for the menu.

I know, you will say that lassi is not a dessert. Well, people
in the UK love to have lassi as desserts. There are two reasons for that, one-yogurt
is very rich in calcium and ascorbic acid which helps in digestion and so it
being the last meal is good for your body. Second- lassi is sweet, so it
suffices as dessert very well.

So what is lassi? In simple words it is a smoothie made with
yogurt/curd (dahi) as a base, to it you can add in any fruit like mango, berries. Authentic lassi of Punjab isn't that simple and fat free, it
is loaded with sugar and malai. Only after coming to the UK I tried mango lassi for the first time, in India we get plain lassi-sweet or salty but
never the ones with the fruits.

Strawberry lassi is fruity berry twist to regular lassi and
the baby pink colour is to die for. Strawberry is sweet and juicy, where as
yogurt is tangy and therefore these two ingredients when mixed together balances
each other very well.

Lassi isn't good if its not chilled, I mean its a summer
drink- it has to be cold, refreshing and revitalizing. I did not add extra
sugar, so its even healthier. It is filling too, you can give it your kids
as an evening snack, or have it as post-workout or gym snack. No matter what
you will enjoy this lassi. Below is how to make Strawberry Lassi.

Ingredients:

Approximately 20 strawberries

3/4 cup yogurt/dahi

1/4 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon cardamom powder/elyachi

Method:

Wash strawberries and remove the stem/stalk. Keep it on the
strainer and drain the excess water.

Mix yogurt and milk in the blender and blend till you see
bubbles.

Add in strawberries and cardamom powder. Blend again till
you see no big chunks of strawberries.

Pour in glasses and chill before you serve.

Notes:

If you like sweet lassi, feel free to add 1-2 tablespoons
sugar.

I used more yogurt and less milk, but this ratio is completely
depends on your choice. If you prefer creamy lassi, add more yogurt. For
thinner lassi, add more milk. I used full fat yogurt and milk but feel free to
use anything you want.

Chill it in the fridge for atleast 2-4 hours before you
serve.

Serving suggestions:

It is a great pre or post workout drink. It is healthy and
filling.

If you are late for work, then have this as a breakfast.

It is a great idea to serve it as side with any meals.

Pour into fancy wine glasses and serve in your parties or
get-together.

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Mint, I guess is one of the most underestimated green.
You will hear how good it is to eat spinach or kale or coriander leaves but you
hardly hear same about the mint. Mint as we call pudhina or podhina in hindi is
infact the healthiest green ever, also one of the cheapest.

Mint belongs to the herb called as mentha which is known
for its aromatic quality. So other than just using it as mouth freshener, there are many benefits of mint:

The menthol present in minthelps the
enzymes necessary for digestion. They relax the smooth muscles of the stomach,
reducing the chances of indigestion.

When mint extract is used on an area that is hurting, it
immediately provides a cooling effect, causing the area to partially become
numb. This helps in lessening the pain. So now you know why balms have mint in
it.

Since pudina has a very strong aroma, it gets to
stimulate your brain functioning and helps cure nausea.

Mint juice is an excellent skin cleanser. It soothes
skin, and helps to cure infections and itchiness, as well as being a good way
to reduce pimples, and it can even relieve some of the symptoms of acne.

Adding mint to your diet, you are increasing the amount
of fat that is being consumed and put to use, rather than being stored and contributing
to your weight gain.

Mint if rubbed directly on the teeth and gums will
refresh the mouth and eliminate dangerous forms of growth. That’s why even
toothpaste producers use mint extract.

Mint leaves are packed with nutrients such as calcium,
phosphorous, vitamin C, D, E and small amounts of vitamin B complex. All these
compounds put together improves the body’s immune system, keeping it safe from
infections and inflammation.

How to consume more mint leaves:

Mix in your dinks. Add mint leaves in water, juices or smoothies.
I like to add mint leaves in green tea as well.

Add in chutneys or throw some in salads.

Use chopped or pureed mint leaves in parathas. I often
use dry mint powder in parathas for extra flavour.

In a jug add 1 liter water, to it add 4-5 mint leaves. Leave this water overnight. Nex day drink this water throughout the day. This mint infused water act as a flat trimmer and also improve the digestion.

Monday, April 27, 2015

Happy Monday everyone. Looks like I am hooked on pomegranate
these days. I don’t why but I cant get over this beautiful fruit. Every time I see it, I get a lesson-create
a life that is good on the inside, and not just the one that looks good on the outside. Outside it is rugged and tough, inside it is
beautiful where every seed looks like pearl-fresh, sweet and alive. Other
then this important lesson, pomegranates are also high in nutrients that give
you glowing skin and healthy digestion. I know peeling it can be difficult and
time consuming but that should not stop you from buying pomegranates. Need some
motivation and proof, then see this poston what is the benefits of pomegranates and why should one eat it more?

I am still in the weekend
mood so feeling a bit lazy to type more, so let me quickly get to the recipe- Pomegranate
and Yogurt Dip. This is in one word the best summer dip ever-its quick, light
on tummy and super healthy. This dip is like spring in the bowl-so bright and
beautiful-sigh!. Creamy thick yogurt is
mixed with juicy fresh pomegranate, in it goes hint of mint and some tangy spice mix (chaat massala) and there you have one amazing, super easy dip ready.

In India this is simply
called as Anaar Ka Raita, which is paired with rice dishes such as methi mutter pulav, basic biryani,corn rice or mixed capsicum rice..
In my home, this is preferred more like an evening nibble snack served with
biscuits, nachos, crackers or chips. Sometimes we just head to the nearest park
with a good book, a bottle of wine, this dip and some biscuits.

Thursday, April 23, 2015

India is a tea loving country. Every nook and corner, no
matter- town or city there will be a tea vendor selling piping hot cups of tea.
There was a time when cafes or coffee culture was not so ‘in’ in India. If you
needed to drink something cold to beat the summer heat you would either have
cold drink or fresh juice in the market. Later came into picture a cafe called
as Cafe Coffee Day or CCD as we called it. It became the place where all
youngsters would go- it was cheap, had beautiful red and white sitting
arrangement and most important they served cold coffees.[More coffee recipes-Eggless coffee cake with fresh cream , Coffee whiskey cake with white chocolate glaze, eggless orange coffee marble cake ]

CCD would never ask you to leave the place when you were
done paying the bill. They came with the punch line- ‘come, share
conversations’ and I loved it for that. No matter what, you could be there for
hours just talking to friends, reading the book, listening to music or have
some me-time. In fact I met my husband there for the first time, we sat there
discussing about our lives, families and marital things. Oh, gosh 5 years and I
can still smile and blush thinking of those conversations. ;-)

So, there we were sipping coffee and talking some serious
things. I had Cafe Frappe. Frappe in simple words mean chilled or cold. Cafe
Frappe is a cold coffee, combination of chocolate and coffee. Its bitter, its
cold and its creamy. If you are a coffee lover, you must and must give this
Indian style CCD cold coffee a try this summer. Nothing fancy, just throw
everything in the blender and mix. By the way, if you seriously love coffee (like me) then you must hop on this amazing visual article on Brewing Success: Coffee Break-it is a great read.Till then, serve this cold coffee with ice-cream in tall glass with some coffee
sprinkled on top for more flavour. Do your favourite thing- watch a movie, read
a book, paint, relax in the balcony but take out some time and enjoy this
chilled glass of coffee-I bet you won’t regret.

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Happy Earth's Day everyone. Remember, earth doesn't belong to us, we belong to earth.What is the difference between a thepla and a paratha, someone asked me. I
know, they both are flat Indian bread and have many similarities but they are
indeed different from each other. So, I decided to make a table (like how we
did in school) jotting the differences in between them.

Paratha

Thepla

Is not always made with whole wheat flour. Paratha can be
made with besan (chickpea flour) or even maida (all purpose flour)

Theplas is always made using whole wheat flour.

Parathas can be plain.

Theplas has to be made with some vegetable, else its
not a thepla.

Parathas can be made in different shapes-triangle,
round, square and even spiral (lacha).

Theplas is always round in shape. Never seen any other
shape.

Parathas are also stuffed.

There is no stuffed thepla ever.

In parathas you can add chopped veggies and even vegetable
puree in the dough.

Theplas will always have chopped veggies or grated
vegetables. Never pureed.

You need water to form the dough of parathas.

You need yogurt (dahi) and water to knead theplas
dough.

You may or may not add oil while kneading the dough.

It is a must to add oil in theplas dough.

So, today’s recipe is Palak Ka thepla and not parathas
because there is oil and yogurt in the dough. If you omit these two above
ingredients you can say these are spinach parathas. There is a fine line you
see :-) So next time when you adding yogurt, oil and chopped or grated
vegetables in the whole wheat flour dough ,then you are making theplas. I have
prepared palak paneer parathas as well; in that I used pureed spinach in the
dough which was stuffed with paneer (cottage cheese), I did not use yogurt or
oil in the dough. Well that’s too much info, I guess.

Palak Thepla is my everyday thing. It is the easiest way
to use greens in your diet. I just break roughly the baby spinach and throw
them in the dough. If you are among those who love theplas but doesn't like methi's (fenugreek leaves) bitter taste then these theplas are a good alternative for
you. The green leaves give the same vibrant colour but the taste is not at all
bitter.

Keep the dough aside for 15-20 minutes covered with a kitchen
towel. Then pinch out 15 balls from them.

Place a ball of dough on a flat surface. Using a rolling pin, roll
it out like you would do for chapatti. Sprinkle flour on the thepla as when needed
so it doesn't stick.

Heat a heavy skillet, griddle or tava. Place the rolled out thepla
on it. Cook till brown spots appear on one side. Turn the thepla
over, pour 1/4 teaspoon oil around it and let it cook till golden on both
sides.

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Pomegranate is
the most beautiful fruit ever. Every time I see it, I get a lesson- create a
life that is good on the inside, and not just the one that looks good on the
outside. Outside it is rugged and tough, inside it is beautiful where every
seed looks like pearl-fresh, sweet and alive.
Other then this important lesson, pomegranates are also high in nutrients
that give you glowing skin and healthy digestion. I know peeling it can be
difficult and time consuming but that should not stop you from buying
pomegranates. Need some motivation and proof, then see-

Pomegranates or anaar as we call it in hindi is the most beautiful fruit ever. I know peeling it can be difficult and time consuming but that should not stop you from buying pomegranates. Need some motivation and proof? Then, see this post on what is the benefits of pomegranates and why should one eat it more? With that in mind I used fresh pomegranate juice and created this new summer cooler recipe.

Pomegranate juice+ coke + chaat massala = best summer coolerever. Anaar ka juice is mixed with coca-cola and dash of chaat massala (tangy Indian spice blend) and there you have the Indian inspired mocktail ready. Yes this is that easy, just three ingredients. I used fresh pomegranate juice, but feel free to use tropicana, rubicon or any canned juice. Let’s see this ridiculously easy Indian inspired summer drink recipe- Aanar Ka Sharbat (Pomegranate Juice) With Coke And Chaat Massala.

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Comfort food- what’s yours? If you have ever noticed
comfort food are generally the ones that are easy to cook but are loaded with
calories. See Americans love their Mac and cheese- easy but calories laded.
Simple tadka daal and white rice is the comfort food for most of the Indians,
simple to cook but remember the starch and the ghee. But hey, when we are
talking about comfort let’s not count calories- good food= good life.

One of my favourite comfort food is kadhi (yogurt soup).
Kadi or kadhi is made using gram flour (besan) and yogurt (dahi/curd). Kadhi takes on different flavours as it travels from state to state throughout
the India.In Gujarat the kadhi
is sweet and white in colour (no use of turmeric); you need to add pakodas (fried
dumplings of chickpea flour) in the Punjabi kadhi; marwadi kadhi is thick super
spicy with tadka(tempering) of dry red chillies.

This is Simple
Kadhi that you can make every day. One of the best thing about kadhi is that it
needs no vegetable- just plain simple Indian spices and you are good to go. You can have kadhi plain like a soup but the deadliest combination is to have it with kichadi. But we prefer and enjoy it with rice dishes such as methi mutter pulav, basic biryani,corn rice or mixed capsicum rice. We like to use leftover rice with some veggies and make pulav with it (Namkeen Chawal).

Ingredients:

(for kadhi)

2 tablespoon gram flour/besan

1 cup full fat yogurt /khatta dahi

2 cups water

1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder/haldi powder

salt as per taste

(for tempering)

1 teaspoon mustard seeds/rai

1 teaspoon asefotida/hing

5-6 curry leaves/kadhi pata

2 tablespoons oil

1 teaspoon blackpepper powder/kali mirch

1 small to medium bay leaf/tej patta

1/2 teaspoon red chili powder/lal mirch powder.

Method:

Mix gram flour, water, yogurt, salt and turmeric
properly. Make sure there are no lumps. If needed sieve the mixture.

Put this mixture on kadai/wok and cook on high flame.
Keep stirring till the kadhi starts to boil. Turn the slow to low and cook till
kadhi is thick.

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Every morning is beautiful these days, looks like sun is
really happy shining bright and crisp. No, I still don’t believe that spring is
here, I am pretty sure that this unpredictable English weather will show its
real colours soon ;-). Till then, I am going to enjoy some summer coolers and
quick snacks. If you are an Indian, you will understand and know that all the
snacks are accompanied with chutney. We just can’t have snacks without chutney-it’s
like a necessity. Serve daal pakodas (lentil fritters) to us without chutney
and you will see only frowns. So be it Bombay sandwich, aloo tikki or dhokla we
need chutney.

Green chutney also known as Hari Chutney or Coriander Chutney
(dhaniya ki chutney) is the most preferred and is used for street foods like
ragda patties or pani puri. I have posted three green chutneys before, one with
raw mango (kacha aam/kairi); one with mint (pudhina) and lastly one
with the Indian gooseberries (amla). Today’s chutney is the most common
version- made with coriander leaves, green chillies and some spices. Every
street vendor in India makes it this way.

This chutney is ridiculously easy and straight forward, just
put everything together and grind into smooth paste. You can adjust it as per
your taste- add more chillies if you like it spicy, or more lemon juice if you
like tangy chutneys. You can pair it with almost anything-pulav, tikkis,
parathas, kichadi, dosa but the most preferred way is to use it on chaats, bhel
puri or sev puri.

For us, it is one simple and healthy green chutney dip. A
great nibble snack for summer time. Use as a dip with roasted bread, savoury
biscuits, chips or cheese crackers (like here). Do give this indian style green
chutney a try.

Ingredients:

1 bunch of coriander leaves (2 cups)

1 green chilli

1 teaspoon asafoetida/hing

2 tablespoon lemon juice

Salt to taste

1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds/jeera

Method:

Wash and chop coriander leaves properly.

Add everything together in the grinder and grind into smooth
paste. Add water if needed.

Notes:

This is coriander (dhaniya) chutney recipe, so I did not add
mint. If you want you can.

You can also use ginger and garlic in this chutney.

This keeps well in the fridge for 3 days. To see how to
freeze chutney, see my tip here.